New Year's Eve Kiss
by brittany34
Summary: Chloe tries to make it to Oliver by midnight.


Title: There by Midnight

Author: brittany34

Summary: Chloe tries to make it to Oliver before midnight!

Characters: Chloe, Oliver, Jimmy, Kara, and mentions of Lois and Clark.

Rating: T

Genre: Holiday/Romance

Words: 2,637

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Written for LJ user abarbiestory

Prompt: New Years Eve gone wrong or where they keep missing each other

This one is lightly based on an episode of How I Met Your Mother when everyone decides to attend several different New Year's Eve parties.

Completely AU does not follow SV storylines at all, so it's from no season in particular.

* * *

Chloe stood in front of the full length mirror and eyed her appearance from head to toe as she slipped one of her large gold hoops into her left ear. Outwardly she looked just as she should, but inside she was silently dreading the night ahead.

Somehow she, Oliver, Lois and Clark had all been invited to attend three different New Year's Eve parties that year… on top of the one they were already planning with the other members of the Justice League. At first they were tempted to decline all the offers and just go to their little private party of friends, but then Lois had managed to come up with a reason that they had to show up for all of them. So they'd all caved and now here she was dressed up in a ridiculous dress and extremely high heels and off to spend the evening with a bunch of people she barely knew.

Chloe was relieved that she'd at least managed to convince her three friends not to force her into going to the party at the Daily Planet. She had told them that being surrounded by all her old coworkers in the building that pretty much symbolized all the dreams she had given up would just be too much to handle. Even after all the time that had past since her firing by Lex it was true, at least partly. The real reason for her hesitance though had less to do with them and more to do with having no desire to be in an enclosed room with Tess Mercer unless absolutely necessary.

It seemed that Mercy, as Oliver called her, had recently decided that she was ready to forgive and forget the past so she could resume her relationship with everyone's favorite playboy billionaire, and just the thought of her hanging on him made Chloe's skin crawl and her stomach turn. So she had been more then happy to use any excuse she knew would work to get out of attending the function.

She glanced down at her watch and smiled if she left now she would be just in time to party number two. A gathering thrown by one of Oliver's old party buddies at the Ace of Clubs.

She threw on her coat, grabbed her purse filled with the bare essentials and rushed out the front door…

As Chloe entered the club she glanced down at her watch and frowned it was already just before ten o'clock. Traffic getting here had been terrible, bumper to bumper cabs so backed up that when she was still twelve blocks away she tossed the cabby some fare money and a generous tip and decided to walk the rest of the way.

She made her way around the room first checking the bar guessing that Lois and Clark would have taken up residence there, since her cousin was never one to turn away free booze, but she was surprised to realize the pair was nowhere in sight. Signaling the bartender she ordered a glass of champagne and sipped from it as she began to circle the room once more. By the time she was on her second lap she started to wonder if she had missed them completely.

Chloe reached down to grab her copy of the schedule that Lois had given all of them from her purse, but stopped when she felt a warm, strong hand touch her shoulder. She smiled brightly as she turned but her grin quickly faded when she realized it wasn't Oliver but the host of the party himself greeting her.

"Cameron… hi." she said smiling at him halfheartedly.

"Chloe Sullivan… you look… stunning," she felt her body tense under his obvious leering as he looked up and down the length of her body.

"Oh… thanks." she subtly took a step back from him, "have you seen Ollie, I was supposed to meet him, Lois and Clark here, but I ran into some traffic."

"Nope… haven't seen them," he answered taking a large gulp from his crystal tumbler filled with amber liquid, "but you're welcome to join me at my table." He pointed over to an empty and secluded booth in the corner.

"I love to," she smoothly lied, "but I really should find them before I settle in anywhere."

"Fair enough," he shrugged and lifted his glass to clink against hers before taking a step closer to her, "but the offer stands." He then turned his back to her and approached a small group of women that Chloe could only assume by the look of them were models and wrapped his arm around the waist of the closest one before leading her toward the same booth he had just invited her to.

Chloe waited until he was out of sight and then left the party.

She stood on the street and reached inside her purse in search of the evening's itinerary wondering if she'd gotten the order of the parties wrong. Shifting through the contents of her bag it only took her a moment to realize that somehow she'd forgotten to bring it with her. She let out an annoyed growl and pulled out her cell phone to call Oliver. It rang several times before going to voicemail. She disconnected the call without leaving a message and shoved the phone back in her small clutch bag, before deciding maybe it was best to just head to the next party on their list…

Chloe grumbled under her breath as she reached the landing of the tenth floor… finally.

How anyone could willingly move into an apartment this high up in a building with no elevator still baffled her, but for some reason Jimmy and Kara had no qualms about the lack of convenience. She was fairly certain it was because Kara could cart all the groceries and what not, up the stairs with no effort at all.

As she approached the small apartment she heard the music blaring from the other side of the door. She knocked loudly hoping someone would hear her over the noise. A second later the door swing open and Kara smiled brightly at her. Of course Kara would hear her knock Chloe realized shaking her head.

"Chloe!" She reached out and pulled the smaller blonde into a tight embrace, "we were beginning to think you wouldn't make it at all."

"I'm sorry I'm late." she took notice of the large wall clock in the entrance way wall, it was three minutes to eleven, "are they here?" she asked knowing there was no need to explain who she was looking for to the blonde Kryptonian.

"No, I'm sorry you just missed them, they said something about another party they couldn't get out of."

"Right," Chloe said with a frown.

"Chloe!" A very inebriated voice called out to her. She looked up and saw Jimmy stumbling toward her, "you came." he wrapped his arms around her and she patted him gently on the back.

"Of course I did," she pulled back and smiled at him as he wrapped his arm around Kara's waist. "I see you're enjoying the evening."

"Yeah… I gotta warn you… if your cousin ever claims she can drink you under the table… don't question her."

"Well I could have told you that." She chuckled at the mental image of Lois and Jimmy going shot for shot before Jimmy had to finally cave in and admit defeat.

Jimmy wrapped his other arm around Chloe's shoulders and led both women toward the living room then walked toward the make shift bar, that was once their coffee table to get them a round of drinks.

"So I must say," Kara started pulling Chloe's attention to her, "Oliver seemed a bit out of sorts when you didn't show up."

"Did he?"

"He did, very upset in fact."

"Hmm," Chloe nodded and tried her hardest to keep her features steady.

"So I'm guessing from your lack of reaction that the two of you haven't gone for it yet."

"Gone for what?" Chloe asked.

"Oh you know, the desperate secret love that neither of you seem willing to admit to."

Chloe shot her attention to the woman beside her but still said nothing.

"I'll take that as a no… so are you ever going to?"

"Kara I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you don't."

"Don't what?" Jimmy asked handing each of them a glass of some sort of green mixed drink.

"Oliver," Kara answered simply.

"Oh right," Jimmy said with a smirk.

Chloe's eyes drifted between the pair and she shook her head, "I'm sorry to break it to you both but Oliver and I are friends… practically best friends mind you… but just friends." Chloe lifted the unusual drink to her lips but only got the tiniest sip before she choked, "what the hell is this?"

Jimmy took a step forward and spoke in hushed tones, "well for those of us in the know, its call 'liquid kryptonite' Lois came up with it."

"Why am I not surprised." she asked shaking her head and still coughing, "just out of curiosity, what's the main ingredient lighter fluid?"

Jimmy and Kara both laughed loudly.

"What?"

"Nothing," Kara said, "it's just that was exactly what Oliver said to."

"Yeah well 'great minds' and all that," she said waving them off.

"It's Interesting." Jimmy commented suddenly.

"What is?"

"You and Oliver."

"Okay stop right there… I just told the two of you that Ollie and I are _just friends_… trust me he has _never_ seen me in any other way."

Jimmy looked at her clearly not believing what she was telling him. "Then why, when Oliver has had every available women hitting on him all night, _he's _been far more interested in checking out his watch then them… even earlier when we did our mandatory pop in at the Daily Planet party, and Tess was all over him he still couldn't care less… we just kinda figured… well you know. Guess we were wrong." Jimmy lifted his glass to his lips trying to his smirk.

Chloe tried not to smile. Tried to ignore Jimmy's words and Kara's knowing look but couldn't seem to. She found herself looking down at her watch it was already after eleven thirty. No matter what she couldn't make it to the final party, the small get together with the league at the clock tower, in time.

"You know," Kara said interrupting her thoughts, I could get you there and still be back in plenty of time before the clock strikes midnight."

"You wouldn't mind," she asked hopefully.

"Not at all."

Chloe hugged Jimmy goodbye and followed Kara out into the hall where no one would see her switch to super speed.

Less then a minute later Chloe found herself standing on the sidewalk in front of Oliver's apartment. Her teeth were already chattering. But she couldn't bring herself to go up.

If she went up there she knew what might happen. She might not be able to stop herself from kissing him at midnight, and that could change everything and what if Jimmy and Kara were wrong, maybe what they saw was just a concerned friend wondering why she hadn't shown up yet and if she was okay.

No she couldn't do it.

She lowered herself to one of the front steps and waited out the start of a new year.

Looking down at her watch for what felt like the millionth time that night she noted that there was only two minutes until midnight.

She was so lost in thought that she didn't hear the door open behind her, or notice someone sit done directly behind her.

"Why aren't you coming up?" He asked.

Chloe jumped involuntarily, "I was um… I was just…" she didn't know what to say to him, how to explain, so she just kept her mouth shut and her gaze focused on anything to keep from looking at him.

She groaned inwardly right now more then anything she wanted to go back to Jimmy and Kara's and give them both a proper dress down for putting an idea as crazy as Oliver being interested in her in her head. Her feelings for her green leather wearing friend had been muddled lately. When she was around him she constantly had to fight the urge to either slap him or kiss him.

Oliver slid to the side and lowered himself down to the step beside her. They sat in silence for several seconds until they heard the shouts from all around them of people counting down the clock.

Right as the shouts reached three Chloe decided it was now or never, if he seemed completely put off by her actions she could just blame tradition, and then wait for the perfect moment to sneak away and die from her embarrassment and the pain of rejection in private.

She turned her head to look at the man beside her, but she was shocked to discover his lips already only a whisper from hers. Without questioning herself further she grabbed the back of his neck and pressed her lips to his.

When they pulled back he was smiling, "you kissed me."

"Its tradition." she explained trying to figure out if he liked it or was just trying to figure out the best way to let down the crazy blonde sidekick who had just assaulted him with her lips.

"You know there's a saying," Oliver started moving his body closer to hers, "that whoever you're kissing when the clock strikes twelve is who you'll be kissing the rest if the year."

"Oh yeah?" Chloe asked suddenly feeling impossibly warm. Maybe Jimmy and Kara had been right after all.

"Yeah," he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her body into the warmth of his.

Chloe felt him place a kiss to the top of her head and couldn't help but smile at his next words.

"I really hope that's true." He whispered against her ear.

"Me too." she replied snuggling closer into him.


End file.
